Montreal developer Devimco has announced a new $120-million condo building that will rise at the company’s existing Solar Uniquartier development in Brossard.

Billed as Palma Condominiums, the 313-unit building will include a range of housing options, from studios and one- to three-bedroom condo units to penthouses within its 19 storeys.

It will be added to a project on the south shore of Greater Montreal, which had its groundbreaking in 2017.

“What we are trying to achieve is really to have a different type of architecture. It’s going to be an iconic project for the south shore. It’s a unique architecture and the project is surrounded by parks, with the central park in the project as well,” Laurent Messier, Groupe Devimco's chief executive officer and partner, told RENX in an interview.

The exterior of the building will offer “undulating balconies on all four distinctive building facades,” according to a release, in a “pure white monochrome” colour.

It will also include such amenities as a telework area and lounge attached to the main entrance, and a gym and spa that will include a dry sauna, thermal showers along with a hot tub and Jacuzzi. The rooftop terrace will feature a pool and barbecue facilities.

The overall common space encompasses more than 8,000 square feet.

Partners on the development are Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ and Fondaction.

Palma's sustainability features

As well, the building will offer environmentally friendly features such as a green roof, a rainwater harvesting system, and an automatic plumbing system that will cut down on water consumption. It’s located within walking distance of Du Quartier station of the city’s light-rail system, or Réseau express métropolitain (REM), that will provide a 10-minute ride to downtown Montreal.

“The Solar project is a unique project, and it’s a TOD, transit-oriented development, so it’s directly on the REM. It’s what is needed in terms of developing some residential projects with transport near,” Messier said.

The company says Solar Uniquartier is Quebec’s largest TOD project of its kind.

“The Solar project has achieved a really nice level of maturity: it’s now a vibrant neighbourhood with a lot of restaurants, education facilities; there’s commerce, office space. It’s really a nice neighbourhood to live in.”

The VIP event was held March 20 and the pre-event buzz was impressive, according to Messier.

“It’s quite exciting because we’re getting a great response and a lot of excitement for the launch of the project. We have a record number of reservations that we did not achieve since pre-pandemic, so we’re also quite excited about that.”

During the planning stages Devimco would visit other spaces for “inspiration” but that has now been reversed, according to Messier.

“It’s very positive to see that now people are coming to this project for inspiration. We have a lot of groups coming in, not just from Canada,” he said.

The developer is hoping to attract all types of buyers, according to Messier: “We’re not targeting one specific type of clientele. It’s more of a mix.” 

Solar Uniquartier is about half complete

Overall, Solar Uniquartier is more than 50 per cent complete, and the company will be looking to build more projects. Currently, there are 14 buildings as part of the development.

“The goal of the project at first was to achieve a vibrant neighbourhood with offices, education facilities and everything, so that was achieved. We’re going to add some more commercial (buildings) as well for the next phases,” Messier said.

While announcing such a venture during uncertain economic times is challenging, Devimco is positive about the future of the Montreal real estate market.

“It followed the same trend as the economy. It has slowed down a bit but if you look with the recent interest rate cut, we’re quite optimistic about what’s coming," Messier said. "Especially with our projects, a lot of them are transit-oriented projects.”

And while Canada has a way to go to address one of its biggest concerns, for Messier the outlook is promising.

“We have a housing problem that’s going to take time to solve," he said, "We do a lot of residential so for the upcoming future, we have a good challenge of creating enough housing to have enough supply to meet the demand. I would say that’s going to be a challenge for number of years."